State trooper injured after drunk driver hit and run

Photo of Sergant Dwayne Dillahunty's police car after a Jeep crashed into it Saturday August 2, 2014. Photo courtesy Indiana State Police.

HAMMOND, Ind. (WANE) An Indiana State Trooper was injured by a drunk driver while he was working a traffic enforcement project. Police arrested Norris Benbow, 43, of Chicago after he hit Sergeant Dwayne Dillahunty and fled the scene early Saturday morning.

Photo of Sergant Dwayne Dillahunty’s police car after a Jeep crashed into it Saturday August 2, 2014. Photo courtesy Indiana State Police.

According to the police report, Benbow was driving his Jeep on Interstate 80, headed east near the 1.9 mile marker when he went off the road and hit Dillahunty’s police car.

Dillahunty was standing outside his car using a hand held Lidar gun, which is a speed tracking device, when Benbow’s Jeep crashed and he was knocked into the concrete median barrier.

Benbow left his Jeep and fled from police. Dillahunty alerted Muster Police, who arrested him south of the interstate. Dilahunty was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Benbow was taken to the hospital and tested above the legal alcohol limit; His blood alcohol content tested at .14%. He was then taken to Lake County Jail in Crown Point and was charged with driving while intoxicated causing bodily injury, leaving the scene of a personal injury crash and driving while suspended.

The two left lanes on I80/94 east bound were closed for about four hours.

This is the second trooper who has been injured by a hit and run driver in four days.

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